What has happened to the Children since the Raid?

Since the historic collective loss of custody1 of the Twelve Tribes children on September 5, 2013, many articles have appeared in the media. It has been a good sell. Unfortunately, almost no one knows what has happened to the children themselves.

Besorah S.was fourteen-years-old when she was taken to a children’s home against her will. After three months there, she was allowed to return home based on an interim court order. As she said then, “I am extremely thankful to be home.” But her two little sisters were not allowed to return to their parents. For nearly two years she was only allowed to visit her sisters once every two weeks, and this under close supervision.

Her sister, Chaninah S. was eleven-years-old when the Jugendamt (youth office) brought her to a children’s home. Expert psychological opinion revealed she had never been endangered with her parents and that another stay in the orphanage would be detrimental to her. It was Chaninah who wrote the moving account of the Raid with the memorable words, “You can never separate a daughter from her parents.” She counted 700 days on her calendar until allowed to come home. Her parents have decided to emigrate from Germany.

These two girls, like their big sister Besorah, wrote so many letters to the judges imploring to be returned home to the parents and the Community they loved, where they were cared for in every way.2

The youngest sister, Ishah, was taken to the children’s home at age 9. Like her sister, expert psychological opinion presented to the court showed that she was not at risk with her parents. After 700 days the courts returned full custody to her parents, allowing her to return. She had been very clear she wanted to return home!3She is now moving away from Germany with her parents.

Read more articles about the Schott family collected at their page on this blog. For more beautiful pictures and for their story in German, read the Familie Schott.

Yedideyah M. was15 years old as he was taken to a children’s home with police violence.He was allowed to return to his home after his second escape attempt because of an interim court order. He wrote then, “At 3:00 o’clock in the morning we jumped out the window and miraculously managed to go home.” Because his mother is a US citizen, he decided he would rather live in America.

Merea K. was 9 years old when she was placed with a foster family by police force. From there, she took refuge first with her sister – together with their parents – and also a second time they fled together to Switzerland to her grandmother. From there she was forcibly handed over three weeks later to the German Youth Office.4 She was separated from her sister and spent only 10 days in another foster family before she was placed in an orphanage. There she is still waiting eagerly for the day when she can return to her parents and two older sisters. She is most severely traumatized by these violent acts and suffers anxiety (Angstzuständen = state of panic or anxiety states).5

Eva K. was forcibly housed atage 17 years with a foster family.Once she fled with her sister to be with her ​​parents – but was returned the same evening by the police.She fled a second time to Switzerland to her grandmother, where after spending three weeks she was taken forcibly by Swiss police at the request of the German Federal Justice Office to the border and handed over to the German Youth Office.She spent another two weeks locked up in a youth facility before she was released.

She has written a beloved journal, “Diary of an Abused Girl,” about her treatment at the hands of the German authorities, and even written the Chancellor of Germany about their desperate situation, so far without response.

Nechonah P. was12 years old when she was separated by police force from her parents and placed in a foster home with her younger brother.After 2 months, her brother was secretly moved to another foster family because she allegedly influenced her own brother too much in favor of their own parents.Then she fled from foster home to her parents.After a visit to the competent judge she was forcibly returned to a children’s home by an employee of the Youth Office, from where she fled after another 3 months.She is happy to be with their parents, but lives under constant fear again of police violence to be taken from there.She has endured several police actions in which if she was found she would be taken away from their parents. Thankfully she has not been found.

Her brother was ReaP. was nine years old when he was separated from his parents by police force and placed in a foster family.After 2 months, he was picked up without warning from the school and moved to another foster family — and thus separated from his older sister.Later, because his sister had successfully fled her captivity, a 5-month contact ban was imposed on him. That is, he could not see his parents for five months! This was a sanction by the Jugendamt (Youth Office).He has been massively influenced against his parents and the community by the foster parents.He will now be subjected to a deep psychological treatment.

Shama H. was 8 years old when he was placed in a mother-child station. He was allowed to stay at first with his mother and little sister, because he is diabetic. Three months later, when he was still in bed, the infamous second raid happened where again, without warning, employees of the Youth Office with police assistance were in front of his bedroom door. Despite his desperate cries, he was separated from his mother and sister and taken away to a distant orphanage. Since then he suffers from physical, mental and moral neglect. He is bullied at school because he wears his hair tied back…like a little priest.6

His little sister Shalomah H. was not yet 3 years old when she spent three months with her ​​mother and her brother in the mother-child station. Suddenly, brutally, the Youth Office came with police and separated her from her mother and her brother, leaving her paralysed. At the foster parents she awoke from her state of shock and cried for weeks after her mother, sobbing on the phone with her ​​parents. “It hurts so…”

The twin sisters Ahavah and Baruchah P. were not yet 4 years whenthey were uprooted from their family. Since then, because the parents have not distanced themselves from their faith in God, which they practice in the “Twelve Tribes,” custody has been permanently withdrawn from them (earlier this year). Now the girls can no longer see their parents, because they fear that then even their youngest son would be taken (next child pictured).

Their three-month-old brother Gidon P. was initially housed with his mother in a foster family. After 3 months, he was allowed to return home until the parents custody was withdrawn permanently in the spring of this year, even for him.

Even before the 3-year-old Nehemiah Shalem P. was swept away by the Youth Office – torn away from his mother – she was told that she would get back their children ever again. The traumatized boy suffers now from a speech disorder and is disturbed in his motor development. The further consequences for the mental development of children one can only imagine.7

Hoshayah P. was 8 years old when the police picked him up. He was screaming when ripped away from his mother by the Youth Office and then placed with foster parents. There he has been living now for two years “provisionally” with his sister, separated from his parents and his younger brother. He is desperate because his hope to be able to be with his parents again until today remained unfulfilled. He has heavily indoctrinated with “anti-cult information” and negative views, resulting in a loyalty conflict which alienated him further and further from his parents. The Youth Office supports this transformation.

The always cheerful Tsebiyah P. was 6 years old at the forcible taking into care. She is still waiting for the decision about her future in the interlocutory proceedings and loses, like her brother, any hope of being able to live again in her family. She has also been heavily influenced and transformed against her parents. This behavior on the part of the Jugendamt confirms the fears of the Munich Higher Regional Court, which stated that: “Facts are created which make it difficult to return the children to their parents more and more” solely by the procedural delays.8

Jesaya W. was 2 years old and still nursing, when he was brought in a mother-child station with his mother. Three months later, the mother was detained in the infamous “second raid” by the police and had her son ripped out of her arms by the Youth Office staff. The villagers were shocked by the desperate cries of the children, which could be heard everywhere.9 He now has lived half of his young life by preliminary court decision away from his parents.

Jonathan T. is the first child of his young parents and has spent 20 months in a foster family. His mother was forced to wean him and the boy had many nights crying to sleep.10 His parents do not know the answer to his constant question, “Why should I not be at home with you?” The grandparents and all relatives can no longer see the now 4-year-old, because they all somehow “belong to” the Twelve Tribes.

Sarah R., the youngest of four siblings, was taken away from her family at age 16 years. After three months of strict “protection of minors” in a Catholic girls’ home she was allowed home due to an interim court order. She does not want to live in Germany anymore.

Helez S., the youngest of 6 siblings was 13 ½ years when he was brought to the police force into an institution. After three attempts to escape in snow and ice and against police searches, he was finally freed through an interim court order of the Regional Appeals Court.

Noah S. was 8 years old when he was separated from his loving mother and stuck first in a children’s home, and two months later in a foster family. He is overwhelmed with material things to convince him that he is doing better there. He is kept away and estranged from his mother and no longer believes that he can live with her ​​again, even though the preliminary process is not yet completed.

The 5-year-old S. Chemdah from Spain fell victim to the collective loss of custody, because her family had come for three months to Germany, where her father worked on a solar project. As the mother during this time was expecting a baby, she registered in Germany to get papers for the newborn. This ensnared Chemdah because all the children who were registered in Wörnitz at the Georg-Ehnes address were torn by the German authorities out of their families.

Her three-year-old brother Yakol S. spent two years in a German foster family, although he spoke only Spanish and English. The Spanish children were forcibly integrated into Germany and until the Higher Regional Court finally allowed him to go back to his parents, they were unable to communicate with them any more (because they had forgotten both their English and Spanish). The parents have left Germany and moved back to Spain and now try to work out, with a lot of patience, the traumatic experience their children went through.

Hananiah S. at age 2 was sent by police force, with his mother, to a foster family. After 3 months, the Higher Regional Court ruled that they were allowed to go home for the time being. The family had to travel back and forth between Spain and Germany to preserve contact with his two older siblings, who had to stay with foster parents.

The 3-year-old Israel L. from Argentina had a blessing in disguise. He had to spend in only nine days in a German foster family. The boy spoke only Spanish and showed by crying the whole day out the window that he wanted to return home. In the first trial it could not be demonstrated that his parents “belong to the Twelve Tribes” and so authorities allowed the boy to go free. Hastily the family left Germany on the same day.

Six other children…

Six other children from two families at the ages of 16 months to 9 years old were also kept more than a year in state custody. Because the parents left the “Twelve Tribes” in the meantime, the children were returned to them. The families are strictly controlled by the Youth Office (Jugendamt) and allowed no contact with their previous friends or family.

Notes

At the plenary session of the Bavarian Senate, on July 20, 2006, Secretary of State Karl Freller said: “That means that there is in this case only two possible actions: either imprison the mothers or send the children to a home. To send 33 children to a home would mean a collective withdrawal of parental rights of the parents. Such a case has never been before in Germany.” Quoted in the “Open Letter to the Bavarian Senate” in January 2014. ↩

So we see the fruit of Germany seizing one of our sensitive, wonderful children. This is not unpredictable, as Michele Noterdaeme, Professor for Child and Adolescent Psychology and Psychotherapy, stated in the Die Seite Drei article of January 15, 2014, “Mit Aller Gewalt” (“With All Force“):

“Have the authorities overreacted? “The younger the child is, the more dependent it is on the mother, the more good arguments it takes to remove him from the parents,” says the professor. “If a one and a half year old child will suddenly be separated from his mother, it means “a significant risk for the development. After the abrupt end of such a close relationship some children find it difficult to enter into new relationships. This can last into adulthood.” On the other hand also regular beatings could damage the soul of the person growing up permanently.

So, was the second action with the small children appropriate? Noterdaeme formulates somewhat carefully, evasively: The tasks of the Jugendamt are not easy. Their staff is standing between two options: ‘If we do nothing, we are criticized — we are active, there is also criticism.’ I assume that the Youth Office had good, assignable reasons. If there is no imminent danger, then the forced removal to prevent immediate danger is not justified.” According to the eyewitnesses in the home in Dürrlauingen there was — at least in the short term — no danger for the little kids.” ↩

As the Court stated: “The command to speedy trial in custody proceeding (…)has presently special significance because the danger has to be considered that alone through the length of the proceeding that is already more than 1 ½ years facts are created that make the return of the child to the parents more and more difficult, child and parents are being alienated and another interference into the environment of the child which could again bring the child in grave conflicts. In face of these possible consequences for the psychological development of the child the duration of the proceeding so far is alarming.” See the post, “What is wrong with our pamphlet” for this and more of what the Higher Regional Court of Munich said. ↩

As one respected villager put, the actions of the authorities was “beneath contempt.” ↩

Although no endangerment exists…

In the last weeks1 a Twelve Tribes family has had hearings in the Family Court Noerdlingen about the potential return of their two daughters, aged 11-13, to their parents’ care. After nearly two years in state institutions, the two girls repeatedly plead to come home. There is no evidence of physical or psychological harm.

The psychologist found no harm, but healthy girls in every way. The head of the institution testified from the beginning that the direction he received from the Jugendamt was “not to focus on return of the girls,” quite the contrary to what Family Court strives to attain which is restoration of families.

Meanwhile a witness called in the two girls’ case has written to President of the Higher Regional Court of Munich and Bayer to complain about the bias she experienced in the same court when called as a witness.

At my hearing – so I thought – I was supposed to be heard as witness. Instead much of what I said was doubted by [the judge]. On part of the judge an attempt of influence took place and instead I felt her to be extremely biased. The judge tried to deliberately drive a wedge between me and my brother and my sister in law. In my view, the judgment of the judge is already set and therefore each testimony is questioned in advance.

After all, I just wanted to put on record that I have never seen violence in the Twelve Tribes, whenever I was there as a guest but loving and harmonious families – especially in the family of my brother ….

Basically, the Judge and the Youth Welfare Office control each other in this process (so was my perception), so that everything is done for the purposes of the Bavarian state. A neutral position I do not see here. According to my view, the process is not fair and my brother and sister in law are already condemned basically.”

Despite on OLG/Munchen decision on April 17, 2015 that called for “immediate hearings,” still no ruling allowing the girls to be returned to their parents. The OLG stated clearly

“The senate as already stated in the decision from 05.03.2014 in the temporary proceeding that it assumes that in the main proceeding the expert will immediately inform the court so that in the frame of §§ 54, 166 FamFG an appropriate reaction can happen in case the expert finds out in his explorations that the determined measures are not anymore necessary to avoid the danger…More than one year has passed since then. The family court is required to make the expert do his evaluation as quick as possible.”

And from the girls, again:

Translation

Your honor Frau R.!

At our home, Shavuot is coming up.

My sister and I wish we could be there for it.

Please listen to your conscience and do what is right. I wish so badly that we could go home.

Please take this letter to hear and let us go home. It is during the Easter vacations. Please let us…one time, if it has to be…go home for Shavuot.

In the Augsberg Allgemeine in the first week of June, 2015, Mr. Beyschlag, director of the Nördlingen District Court, said that he will sue the Twelve Tribes because of the posters two of our teenagers carried in the Stabenfest on May 25. It is hard to understand why because Mr. Beyschlag had nothing to do with these posters.

One poster made it clear that in 1939 all German children belonged to the Führer (leader). That poster clearly shows a happy and proud German girl and the caption says, “You, too, belong to the Führer.”1

There is nothing mentioning the Nazis or comparing Mr. Beyschlag to Hitler — nothing at all. The issue is not about the Nazis or Mr. Beyschlag.

You also belong to the Führer

The poster had nothing to do with Mr. Beyschlag, but with the fact that the German government considers children as their own property, even though it is a country that calls itself democratic and supposedly protects human rights.

The point is: Who owns the children – the state or the parents?

Our children were actually taken in the September 5, 2013 Raid against their will and are now imprisoned already for 20 months in youth welfare institutions and in foster families.

The title of the second poster says, “You also belong to the state.” The teenagers that carried these posters can witness to this because they experienced it themselves. They had thought they had the right to live with their family, but the court and the youth welfare office “put them right.”

These girls think that the German people should know the truth about what the family court and the youth welfare office of Nördlingen Donau-Ries do in the name of child protection.The believe that the German should know about what the family court and the youth welfare office of Nördlingen Donau-Ries do on behalf of minors.

The families are not treated individually and it does not proceed in an appropriate manner, if there was actually sufficient suspicion for child endangerment. Instead, all the children were arbitrarily removed their families due to the faith of their parents. This is religious persecution.

Most children are now being held for nearly two years without a fair hearing, in which it is determined whether their removal is still necessary. In all cases there is absolutely no sign of any damage: on the day of the raid the doctors found no evidence of child endangerment. Why did they not sent them home to their parents that same day, as it had been promised to the children by the authorities, if they would cooperate?

Raid on Klosterzimmern 5 September 2013.

Both posters criticized the state control of children. It is exactly that, which these young girls have protested against, because they personally experienced it, being in state custody and foster care by the youth welfare office until they managed to escape. Why can they not say it now?2

We will soon publish the opinion of one of these girls, in which she explains why she did that. Then you can make a judgment yourself. It is not about Mr. Beyschlag, but about the welfare of children.

The Twelve Tribes children who are still in state custody against their will, for them there is no doubt, that children still belong to the state. They indeed remain separate from their parents without a fair, speedy procedure.

Although the medical officers did not find any evidence of any hazard, injury, or abuse with the children, Mr. Beyschlag claimed the opposite during the press conference on September 5, 2013, to the public. Why did he not told you that there was no evidence of child endangerment?

So that is, what the leaflet with the image of Mr. Beyschlag was about, which we handed out. The picture was taken at this press conference. We published nothing untrue or twisted in it. The medical report is in the court files. But to this day, the court has not recognized the truth of it. So it is already proved since the police raid on 5 September 2013, that is from the very beginning of the proceedings.

In this flier, nothing is mentioned about the Third Reich. It should only inform the public about the fact that Mr. Beyschlag has concealed the results actually found. By concealing important facts in the press conference, he also put the community in a bad light. He has nowhere mentioned the results of the medical examination, but only spread the unaudited statements of ex-members from a family court process, which is normally not public in order to protect the children and to avoid that those affected have to suffer under false suspicion.

Since the Family Court does not have the expertise to assess mental child endangerment and because the doctors could not confirm physical child endangerment, there is good reason to ask, “Why are the children still being held in custody?”

Why has the court waited for one and a half years in order to arrange an expert opinion for the children, although it was already in its power immediately after the seizure? The appeals court of Munich has raised the same question. So it is not only parents of the Twelve Tribes who are asking now:

Is a fair trial and respect of the command of speedy trial at all possible?

They were called then “Hitler Youth”. Germany’s youth and Hitler’s youth were synonymous, at least in law. The poster said nothing about the persecution of the Jews by the Nazis. (That insinuation was made by Jan Kandzora, Augsburger Allgemeine on June 3, 2015, not by Community members.) ↩

The Twelve Tribes’ girl on the poster remains in state custody despite there being no evidence whatsoever against her. That is why she says, “Still today, children belong to the state.” She knows from her first-hand experience. ↩

German original below English

The Raid

(from Chaninah Schott, age 13 years)

On September 5, 2013, all of the children from Klosterzimmern and Wornitz were just taken away. At 6 o’clock in the morning the police came and got them. They said they would bring us back in the evening and that they were supposed to take us with them for a short time. I did not want to go away from my parents and thought, “They can’t possibly do this to me.”

When we were at the Jugendamt and were being examined, the people came and were supposed to put us in foster homes (orphanages) and with foster families. That was the moment when my worst nightmare began. Me and my sisters were brought to a home. I was just weeping, and I was helpless.

Then the police said, “Tonight, you’ll be back with your parents.” As it got later and the caretaker gave us our rooms and beds, I knew that it was a lie and we’d have to stay here for a while.

I didn’t know what to do and that’s how the days went by. On every new day, when evening came, I lay in my bed and wept.

Then we were allowed to call my parents but it didn’t really help. I simply wanted to go home to my friends and family. I also counted every day – 1 week, 2 weeks, and so forth.

7 weeks had passed before I was allowed to see my parents again for the first time. They were also allowed to know where we were, but they were only allowed to see us when accompanied by the caretakers and Jugendamt, because they thought otherwise my parents would just take us. I couldn’t understand why Judge Mrs. Roser threw us all into one pot. She didn’t have any evidence that our parents beat us.

After a while we were allowed to see our parents every other week. I was very happy to see them. I didn’t understand anything. Like many puzzle pieces that didn’t fit together…

When we had a hearing at Judge Frau Roser’s court, I had a feeling that she had us prejudged already and didn’t really listen to us. At the Appeals Court, for the first time, I felt like the judge listened and tried to understand us.

Every day I endured because I knew that the day would come when we’d go home.

I knew that even if they separated us, you could never separate a daughter from her mother or father, even if they can’t be together.

My friends and parents encouraged me saying, “If not today, then tomorrow.” That’s how we can endure, is if we encourage one another. I also know that when I am away from my family and my friends won’t ever forget me. They encourage me to hold on and not give up.

My parents are always there for me. Some children don’t have parents that care for them the way mine do. And nobody can replace my parents for me. They’ll always be the best parents in the world. I know that they love me and I love them, too.

After three months we heard that Besorah was allowed to go home. We were so happy for her but it was very hard to let her go. I would not see my older sister very often any more. When I asked why she was allowed to go home and we weren’t, I just heard, “She’s older than you.”

It didn’t make sense to us that she was allowed to home just cause she was older. I was always happy when all three of them visited every other Friday.

Even though we needed to be accompanied and we were never able to have our private “realm”, it was nice. Like cold water to a thirsty soul. Simply forget everything and enjoy the time as a family that we don’t have very often.

You’d felt like you were in prison, never knowing when you could go out and always having to be watched. Everyday I hope that I could go home soon.

I will continue to endure, even if I suffer. It strengthens the character.

I know that I can make it and it will have an end. I am old enough and know what I want.

Nobody can force me to do something I don’t want to do. I hope the people who read this letter will take to heart what I am trying to say.

And that they might start listening to the younger ones, because they also have something to say.

Thank you very much,

Chaninah Schott (age 13) Read more about the courageous and determined Schott Family.

A letter from someone who knows us personally

Dr. Richterin Roser

Richter Krüger

Landrat Stefan Rößle

Alfred Kanth

Dr. Peter Hell

Willi Leopold

Landtagsabgeordneter Wolfgang Fackler

Dear All,

My name is Cesar Camacho, and I’m writing you from Buenos Aires – Argentina. Since August 2013, when my son Juan Pablo Camacho, decided to join the Community the Twelve Tribes of Israel in General Rodriguez Province of Buenos Aires, I learned of the existence of the Community.

They have shown at all times to be exemplary in every way. I have attended their weekly meetings, and have stayed overnight in their house, called “Menucha”. I have always been treated with respect and affection, from all: adults and adolescents and children. I found a full Peace I continue to carry on in my life.

My son, Juan Pablo, has found his place in the world, living in Community with brothers of his new life. I have visited other houses in the Community and met in all the same idea, the same meaning for life, work, respect, and love for their brothers. It’s a surprise to see how they educate their children. They are not envious of the society where all can see every day child trafficking, sexual abuse, labor abuse, etc.

No all use the Laws of the Civilized World since the Rights of the Child are often neglected.

At the beginning I had my preconceptions, and even I believed that they were a sect. Today I see that all these doubts were unfounded, and that is the best place that my son has chosen to live.

When I find out what happens to children in Germany (Klosterzimmern), I remain bewildered. It is totally unfair that they have been ripped from their parents. It is an abuse that I can not get into my head. As mature and high as the German society is, it has removed the children as criminals. They have rights and honor, and by those Rights they should return them to their homes.

I will pray and ask God to enlighten you and stop the damage, much damage, that you are causing.

This letter was forwarded to us by a concerned citizen:

Translation below.

A Scandalous Injustice

Being a totally normal citizen of Germany, a woman as old as 84, and a mother of six children, I would like to again refer you to the fact that you and your helpers have caused a scandalous injustice.

Unfortunately, you have not replied to my letter of 2nd September, 2014, and I seriously wonder why I did not receive a reply. Yes, you did not prevent a scandalous injustice from happening, even though you would have been in a place to do so.

Thus you knowingly went against your conscience when you bereaved the parents of the Twelve Tribes of their children and when you had some of the smaller children torn from them with force. The parents and children have found their home with the Twelve Tribes, and it was and is irresponsible to invade them to bring destruction upon happy and peaceful families.

I am asking myself again how you are able to reconcile this undeniable fact with your conscience…

The children of parents living in the Twelve Tribes should be returned to their parents in the fastest, most direct way, ideally now as you are holding this letter in your hands.

Whatever happened to justice? In a state under the rule of law such as Germany! Or else, is our country ultimately not a state under the rule of law any more? Has it developed into an unjust nation where good gets punished, and where evil is excused and defended? All these questions come to me after I personally came to know the Community of the Twelve Tribes very well as you can gather from my letter of 2nd September, 2014.

Being a sorely afflicted and experienced, yet very positive woman, I can assure you that the Father of us all in heaven will not let any injustice go unpunished. He is the ultimate authority and the truly Righteous One.

I want to encourage you to pause and listen to the small voice of your conscience. Or is it already being drowned out by many loud voices and thus cannot be noticed any more? Unfortunately, this is no longer a rare occurrence in this perverted world and age, but has already become commonplace.

Surely, it will cost you something to face the truth, for injustice has been happening for far too long, to my knowledge beginning as early as September 5th, 2013.

A compensation in the form of monetary indemnity for damages and a personal apology to the Twelve Tribes for this illegitimate and highly inhumane violent action are the least you can do at this advanced stage, before it is too late and the systematic destruction is further allowed to run its course.